VERY SUPERSTITIOUS!

Baseball is America's sport. It is also a sport of superstition. We have rally caps when your team is down, you don't call a perfect game, and you never, EVER call a win before the last out. Some fans even have their own little rituals they perform at home, believing it will bring their team luck. Some are more bizarre than others. Here are five of my favorite, and possibly the strangest, superstitions players ever had.

 #5- You do WHAT?

It's a well known fact that batting gloves are important in the game. They were an absolute for me, when I played. The result of not wearing them are callouses, and blisters. As a ball player, those things suck. Of course you could always pee on your hands to toughen them up. Wait... what? Yup! Some players have been known to pee on their hands to toughen up the skin, and alleviate callouses. Jorge Posada among them. Et tu, Jorge? Apparently, he followed the advice of Moises Alou. Thankfully, the beautiful Mrs. Laura Posada found out, and put a stop to it. Well done, Laura! The Boston Globe had a pretty funny article on this a while back. You can read that HERE. The lesson here is, if a player doesn't wear batting gloves, think twice before shaking their hands.

#4- Leyland's Dirty Laundry

In August of 2011, the Detroit Tigers went on a twelve game winning streak. This is often credited to Jim Leyland, and his underwear. I wish I was joking. When the Tigers were on the tear that gave them a 13-1/2 game lead, Leyland not only wore the same underwear until they lost, he didn't bother to wash them. And before he becomes the BUTT of any STINKY jokes, he wasn't the only one. His hitting coach, Lloyd McClendon joined him, wearing his own pair of unwashed undies, until the team finally lost.

#3- The Inspiration for Sisqo's Thong Song

Speaking of underwear, and stinky situations, let me tell you the story of a glorious golden thong. Unlike the golden fleece of Greek mythology, it did not grant eternal life, nor was it protected by dragons. It was a slump buster, though. And it was worn by Jason Giambi. The best part here? Giambi, knowing how important it is to get out of a slump, shared it with his teammates. He's just a nice guy that way. In an article in the New York Daily News (HERE) I learned that even our great captain, Derek Jeter, admitted to wearing it. "I was 0-for-32, and I hit a homer on the first pitch," he said. Well, I guess being incredibly uncomfortable gives you something else to focus on, huh? The better question here is, did he wash it, or was there a Leyland like quality to it?

#2- What's up with that Necklace?

I couldn't possibly write this without adding Turk Wendell. Talk about seriously superstitious. Turk had several little quirks. He would squat when the catcher stood, and stood when the catcher would squat. He jumped over the foul line when walking on or off the field. He would make the ump roll the ball to him, instead of throwing it. And, of course, there was the necklace made of claws, and teeth from the animals he killed. I wonder if it was a signal to the hitters, like "I'm a bad ass! I kill things. Don't mess with me." Of course, this is the short list. There is also the thing with licorice, and brushing his teeth in the dugout. Turk was full of strange little oddities.

#1- The Chicken Man is Full of Life

While Turk was strange, I think Chicken Man, Wade Boggs was borderline OCD. Besides eating a plate of fried chicken before every single game, he also woke up at the same time every morning, took exactly the same number of ground balls during practice, took batting practice at 5:17, and ran sprints at 7:17.  He also wrote "Chai," the Hebrew word for "Life," in the batter box for every at bat. The most interesting superstition he had to me was his not wanting Sherm Feller, Fenway Park's public announcer, to say his uniform number. He did this because he broke out of a slump one night when Feller forgot. In a Sports Illustrated article (HERE), Boggs insisted that his habits were part of the routine, like every player has. The only difference is that his routine took over 5 hours to complete.

Most players have their own superstitions. Some are as simple as wearing two different socks, like Mark Teixeira, and others involve shaving in the dugout, after a bad at bat, like Luis Sojo.  One thing is for sure, if a player thinks it works, and makes them play better, by all means, keep doing it. Hard to argue with the Chicken Man's .328 career BA.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer
@e_morales1804

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